Breakdown Every Crafting & Trading Changes in The Third Edict

Path of Exile 2's upcoming Patch 0.3.0 brings a wave of exciting changes to crafting and trading, making the game more accessible and strategic for players at all levels. From enhanced item bases to innovative mechanics, these updates aim to deepen engagement while addressing some long-standing pain points. If you're planning your next build or just curious about what's ahead, this breakdown offers practical insights to help you adapt and thrive.

As you explore these features, consider bookmarking reliable resources for ongoing tips—it's a great way to stay ahead, and our Path of Exile 2 shop has currency and items that could smooth out your journey.

Exceptional Bases: Elevating Endgame Gear

One of the standout additions is exceptional bases, which drop in high-level areas with either up to 30% quality or an extra socket. These normal-rarity items are ideal for fresh crafting projects and can even be corrupted for more sockets. Unique items can also spawn as exceptional, adding versatility.

The implications are significant: for physical damage builds using martial weapons, that 30% quality acts as a multiplier, boosting output without affecting elemental damage. On armor like energy shield-evasion chests, it scales defenses through notables such as Bestial Skin or Spectral Ward, where base values multiply across layers. For slots like boots or gloves with essences granting 100% increased effect of socketed items, the extra socket shines for adding runes or omens.

Overall, this incentivizes running tougher maps for valuable drops, benefiting sellers and crafters alike. It's a smart move that adds depth without overwhelming beginners, though we'll need to see how new runes and essences interact—early datamined info on sites like PoEDB hints at more options coming.

Desecrated Modifiers: A Fresh Take on Veiled Power

Drawing from POE1's veiled mods, desecrated modifiers arrive via the league mechanic, offering exclusive affixes not found elsewhere. You reveal three options and pick one, with no crafting bench equivalent. A new omen allows a second reveal for better odds.

This replaces old veiled chaos/exalts with preserved items like vertebrae and jawbones, and June's unveils shift to the Well of Souls. Uniquely, these can apply to waystones (maps), potentially boosting rewards—though mapping experts will need to test impacts on devices.

It's a positive evolution, building on familiar systems while introducing flexibility. The lack of a bench keeps things league-focused, encouraging experimentation, but expect some trial-and-error to maximize those exclusive mods.

Essence Rework: Deterministic Crafting for All Stages

Essences get a major overhaul, turning magic items into rares with guaranteed mods. Lower tiers now provide fixed outcomes, perfect for early-to-mid progression and leveling. Perfect essences act like chaos orbs but add unique, exclusive modifiers, while corrupted ones (like Hysteria) vary by equipment slot.

Seven new essences are incoming, unteased so far. This bridges gaps in crafting accessibility—cheap, targeted upgrades fill the void between basic orbs and high-end omens. However, interactions with items like Hinor's locks could skew determinism if not balanced, potentially allowing quick economy control by early adopters.

Still, it's overwhelmingly beneficial, promoting more player involvement in crafting without relying solely on trading.

Hinor's Locks: Forecasting Outcomes with Caution

Reintroduced from POE1, Hinor's locks let you preview a currency's effect on an item before applying it. They work with most POE2 currencies (like transmutes, augments, essences) that involve right-click hovering, but not UI-based ones.

The power lies in layering with omens for targeted results, like removing specific mods predictably. Yet, this raises concerns: combined with perfect essences' remove/add function, it might enable overly deterministic crafts, bypassing thousands of divines' worth of randomness. Infinite reapplication amplifies this, potentially disrupting high-end economies.

While innovative, it could shift crafting toward lock hoarders—hoping GGG has safeguards in place.

Omen of Sanctification: Raising the Power Ceiling

This omen turns your next divine orb into a sanctifier, randomizing mod values then multiplying them by 0.8-1.2x within tiers. The item becomes sanctified, akin to corrupted or mirrored status, preventing most further modifications.

It boosts potential on rares, similar to Vaal orbs on uniques but with a slight range tweak (vs. 0.78-1.22x). Flavor text ambiguity—stating "most methods" can't be used—needs clarification, as beta testers noted Vaal orbs working but removing the tag. Clear wording like "cannot be modified" would help.

Economically, if mirroring is possible post-sanctification, it could break perfect-item crafting; otherwise, it's a fitting endgame capstone.

Tiered Currency Items: Mid-Range Boosts

New greater and perfect versions of transmutes, augments, chaos, regals, and exalts guarantee minimum item levels (e.g., perfect chaos at IL50). This enhances mid-tier crafting reliability, with augments/transmutes ensuring T3-T1 mods.

Exalts remain single-use focused, but chaos variants worry if compatible with omens—reducing prefix pools dramatically and saving massive divines. Drop rates slightly below divines keep them accessible without flooding.

A welcome mid-game filler, assuming omen incompatibility prevents endgame exploits.

Omen of the Ancients and Abyssal Eyes: Niche Innovations

The Omen of the Ancients combines ancient orbs with fortune, chancing whites into uniques by class (not base), excluding boss/loot-table drops. Great for belts or rings, but randomization matters—drop-tier weighted or flat?

Abyssal Eyes are slot-limited socketables (one per character) with effects varying by gear: e.g., crit luck on gloves or damage prevention on body. Synergize with 100% socket effect essences and a new unique belt like Ulamon's Gaze.

Both encourage build diversity without overcomplication.

New and Removed Omens, Miscellaneous Tweaks

Fifteen new omens join, with a few teased; removals like greater annulment reduce options but tie into unrevealed additions. Miscellaneous: chance orbs favor jewelry/charms; martial crit bonus capped at 25% (legacy items preserved); block mods slashed (max 30%, player cap 50%, no glancing blows); new body suffixes apply defenses to elements; spell crit/gem levels adjusted for balance.

These refine systems, nerfing outliers while buffing underused bases.

Trading Updates: Gold, Bots, and Suggestions

Trading evolves with an offline system, but gold costs for listings won't deter bots—vendoring bulk maps yields millions quickly. A better fix: introduce trade tokens from mob kills only, capped at 10, consumed per transaction. This forces mapping, curbing automation without limiting legit play.

FAQs about Crafting and Trading in The Third Edict

What are exceptional bases in POE2 Patch 3.0?

These are high-level drops with either 30% quality or an extra socket, perfect for crafting. They drop normal and can be corrupted for more sockets, scaling defenses or damage based on build.

How do perfect essences differ from regular ones?

Perfect essences function like chaos orbs, removing and adding mods with a unique exclusive one, offering deterministic outcomes for mid-to-late crafting without full rerolls.

Can sanctified items be further crafted?

Sanctified status prevents most modifications, similar to corrupted items. Beta tests suggest Vaal orbs work but remove the tag—clarification from GGG is needed.

What concerns exist with Hinor's locks?

They preview currency outcomes, but layered with omens and essences, they might enable overly precise crafts, potentially unbalancing economies if not restricted.

How do tiered currencies impact endgame?

Greater/perfect versions guarantee higher item levels, aiding mid-crafts. Chaos types could save divines if omen-compatible, but rarity keeps them balanced.

Thanks for Reading

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